AI Hyperrealism: Why AI Faces Are Perceived as More Real Than Human Ones

Elizabeth J. Miller; Ben A. Steward; Zak Witkower; Clare A. M. Sutherland; Eva G. Krumhuber; Amy Dawel

doi:10.1177/09567976231207095

AI Hyperrealism: Why AI Faces Are Perceived as More Real Than Human Ones

Elizabeth J. Miller¹; Ben A. Steward¹; Zak Witkower²; Clare A. M. Sutherland^3,4; Eva G. Krumhuber⁵; Amy Dawel¹

¹ School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University · ² Department of Psychology, University of Toronto · ³ School of Psychology, King’s College, University of Aberdeen · ⁴ School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia · ⁵ Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London

Psychological Science 2023

Recent evidence shows that AI-generated faces are now indistinguishable from human faces. However, algorithms are trained disproportionately on White faces, and thus White AI faces may appear especially realistic. In Experiment 1 ( N = 124 adults), alongside our reanalysis of previously published data, we showed that White AI faces are judged as human more often than actual human faces—a phenomenon we term AI hyperrealism. Paradoxically, people who made the most errors in this task were the most confident (a Dunning-Kruger effect). In Experiment 2 ( N = 610 adults), we used face-space theory and participant qualitative reports to identify key facial attributes that distinguish AI from human faces but were misinterpreted by participants, leading to AI hyperrealism. However, the attributes permitted high accuracy using machine learning. These findings illustrate how psychological theory can inform understanding of AI outputs and provide direction for debiasing AI algorithms, thereby promoting the ethical use of AI.

DOI: 10.1177/09567976231207095
Volume: 34 (12)
Pages: 1390-1403
Language: en
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